Roy Donders understands that people have mixed feelings about the current carnival celebrations in the south of the country, but he doesn’t want to let the war in Ukraine ruin the party.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression is currently sparking a horrific war in Ukraine. The images of this also cause strong emotions for many Dutch people. For some it therefore feels a bit double to celebrate carnival at the moment. Roy Donders, however, does not want to spoil the party.
Roy wants to party
If it’s up to Roy, we’ll just go wild with carnival. “Yeah, you know, I’ve also been in front of the tube for two days and yes, it just hurts me a lot what is happening. It feels very double. But I think that we as our country, we have been inside for a long time, so yes…”, he says in Shownieuws.
Roy points out the corona measures. “It could just all be locked up again or, worse, what’s going on there could also happen here. It can happen anywhere. I think we should take our freedom now and just have fun while we can.”
Understanding for Roy
Show news expert Ronald Molendijk understands Roy. “I rarely agree with Roy Donders, but I think that he says ‘take freedom now that you can’ just hit the nail on the head. It’s all very bad what’s happening, but there’s a lot of bad things happening in the world all the time.”
He continues: “Whether it’s a war that’s a little closer or there’s a famine in Africa; it’s a shit planet for that matter. It is precisely the entertainment industry, especially carnival, that allows you to go nuts together and think: tomorrow again. †
John de Bever
John de Bever also wants carnival to continue. “People have been at home for two years and have been unable to do anything, so carnival. That’s just the way it is.”
“It’s a bit of a double now with Russia, but it’s the way it is, right? The war in Syria has ended and then we just celebrated carnival. It’s double, but hey, we can’t help that Putin is a little crazy right now, can we?”
Overshadowed
Weekend boss Bart Ettekoven at the desk to Ronald: “Don’t you have the feeling that it is a bit overshadowed by that war? I don’t have the feeling of: oh, yes, we can go again!”
Ronald: “Exactly that.”
Patty Brard: “We all have a bit of mixed feelings. I went to the carnival today and I actually went there with a mixed feeling in my stomach, like: does this fit? But it was also very nice to just pretend for two hours that nothing is wrong.”
Natacha Harlequin: “I really have to tell you, I’m sitting here and I’m really just having a knot in my stomach, because I really think we (…) maybe in some cities we should have said: let’s skip it for once.”
Patty: “We just skipped it two years, didn’t we?”